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MRI Interventions Named 2012 Global Company Of The Year In Image-Guided Neural Interventions

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MRI Interventions, Inc. (OTCBB: MRIC), a commercial stage medical device company focused on creating innovative platforms for performing the next generation of minimally invasive surgical procedures in the brain and heart, announced today that it has been presented the 2012 Global Company of the Year Award in Image-Guided Neural Interventions by Frost & Sullivan, a global business research and consulting firm. The award criteria established by Frost & Sullivan included degree of innovation with products and technologies, growth strategy excellence, growth implementation excellence, and leadership in customer value. Based on its own best practice research with industry value chain players, Frost & Sullivan concluded that MRI Interventions outperformed its competitors with respect to every award criterion.

MRI Interventions' innovative product, the ClearPoint® system, provides an integrated platform for performing a range of minimally-invasive neurological procedures under direct, real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance. ClearPoint is an integrated system of reusable components, disposable components and intuitive menu-driven software, which provides guidance for the placement and operation of instruments during neurological procedures performed within the MRI environment. Using the ClearPoint system, a surgeon sees and selects a neurological target, aims the ClearPoint targeting device, and watches in real-time as the surgical instrument is advanced to the target.

"MRI Interventions' ClearPoint system enables neurological interventions which offer distinct advantages over conventional and robotic procedures," said Frost & Sullivan healthcare industry analyst Beulah Devadason. "The many advantages of this system include reduced patient trauma, and reduction in the overall cost and time required for procedures, which further improves profitability for hospitals."

To date, ClearPoint systems have been installed at 16 hospitals in the United States and two hospitals in Europe. ClearPoint systems are in clinical use in connection with MRI scanners from the three major MRI scanner manufacturers, Siemens, GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare, as well as the two major interventional MR/OR platforms that are manufactured by IMRIS and Brainlab.

"We are honored to accept the 2012 Company of the Year Award in Image-Guided Neural Interventions from such a well-respected organization," said Kimble Jenkins, MRI Interventions' CEO. "This kind of industry recognition is welcome validation that our team's hard work in developing and bringing to market the ClearPoint system is paying off." In 2010, the magazine Medical Device + Diagnostic Industry named MRI Interventions (then known as SurgiVision) as one of the 50 companies to watch in the medical device industry.